Second California county votes to pursue secession

September 28, 2013

California’s northeastern most county Modoc County joined neighboring Sikiyou County Tuesday in its pursuit of secession from the state of California and creation of the sate of Jefferson. [LA Times]

The Modoc County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0, with one member absent, in favor of a declaration to the California Legislature supporting secession. Siskiyou County declared its support for secession earlier this month.

“The Modoc County Board of Supervisors recognizes the lack of representation for rural and frontier counties in the California Legislature,” the declaration stated. “The board is aware of an increasing tendency by the state of California to exercise legislative and fiscal malfeasance in the form of illegal fire tax, property rights violations and assaults upon Second Amendment rights, as well as disregard for other inalienable rights of the citizens of Modoc County.”

Advocates of the state of Jefferson, named after Thomas Jefferson, hope other Northern California and Southern Oregon counties will also secede from their respective states and join the movement to create a new one.

Spokesman for the Jefferson Declaration Committee Mark Baird told the Redding Record-Searchlight that the group is seeking commitments from a dozen counties prior to asking California legislators to approve the secession plan. The seceding counties must then gain approval from Congress.

“This is going to have to be something the people bring forward,” said Modoc board chairman Geri Byre. “It’s gong to have to be from the bottom up, not from the top down.”

53 Comments

I’m doing you a huge favor by taking this time to attempt to explain to you why you are so ridiculed, mocked, and marginalized.

The people of this great state, and an ever-increasing number throughout the nation…

Are very happy to see that healthcare will be universal, even if that means cost increases and other adjustments because hundreds of thousands of medical related bankruptcies is bad for our society and healthy people are good for us all.

Know that the actual, effective tax rates in this country and state are quite reasonable and, with the current obscene wealth gap between the middle class and the rich, taxes on the rich should actually be increased.

Are not twitchy faced paranoid about their emails and phone usage being aggregated by the NSA. Our lives are already very open-book as it is because of how we choose to use social media.

Were not only not “embarrassed” by the fact that we are engaging in diplomacy vs war with Syria, we are actually very grateful for it.

Are very happy to see Mubarak eating figs in a dirty little house and to help the Egyptians, without the use of our military, in what will no doubt be a messy road to democracy.

Believe that the NRA is insane, immoral, and evil.

Are glad to have a (current) DOJ which refuses to imprison hundreds of thousands of good, decent, productive citizens, unlike past (republican) DOJ’s.

Believe that not only did we not leave Iraq “too early”, but that we should have never been there to begin with.

Don’t care that adults who voluntarily put themselves at risk in Libya ended up paying the consequences of their actions.

Have you actually ever MET one of your “tea baggers?” I’ve met many people who want government accountability, fairness, and who desire a return to the very document we were founded on (and which government officials swear to uphold)… NONE of them are what you describe.

It might be easier for California to become a state within Mexico, excepting those counties that want no part of Caifornia. Passing California’s debt to Mexico will help U.S. federal budget and be a big plus for the Mexican economy. They will inherit the prison industry, the drug industry and everything else with a much lower operating cost.

La Raza (loose translation: the Raceists) and those low-information youths of MEChA believe in Aztlan and all that crap. Except they don’t really want Mexico running it (there’s a shock) so they’ll take everything others have done and call it Republica del Norte.

Such vain attempts at out-and-out theft… what, do they think they have a plant on the Supreme Court or something?

Of course when one actually does not BUILD or at least earn something on their own, they will not appreciate it, and it will no doubt devolve into the s-hole they came from.

The comments on this topic are amazing. Some of the worst vitriol from people I have seen (even when they are normally bitter, unhappy commentors). Still, this little “throw-away” story has gotten them so riled up! Why?

I believe we have among us some people so wrapped up in politics and ideology that the mere thought of reducing government, slowing the advance of the large, centralized bureaucracy causes them mental symptoms made manifest by their words.

So another county is looking to secede from the State – most people know it will likely never happen, and if it did, it’d be a very interesting experiment in liberty. And is this not what it is all about? Or at least USED to be? Liberty?

So why the rabid hatred of another ideology? Of other people who are perceived to hold other ideologies? I hate communism, but I don’t go off on wild tangents in anger over it. I dislike Obama and Bush, but don’t hate them. I disagreed with their policies and how they did (and are doing) the job of executive for this nation. Somehow that makes me (and others who might disagree with the president) enemy #1. Really? I am no mental health expert, but it would appear that progressivism leads to or is indicative of a mental disorder.

It’s just not healthy to hate so much when one is in disagreement, especially over theories and ideas.

True, “Word,” however, it often takes much more effort to “find balance” by pointing it out on the conservative side. Sure, everyone will point at “Right Wing Talk Radio” and have ample examples… while at the same time ignoring the entire pop culture, most news agencies (television, radio or otherwise), and government/academia. A bit of an imbalance if you ask me.

I understand your point. There are haters on both sides, but if one is practically guaranteed to get vitriol from a group, it is the progressives. On that, I stand firm.

What I will never understand is the level of hatred aimed at the “Tea Party”. The tea party didn’t cause your health care premiums to increase…the tea party did not raise your taxes…the tea party did not exclude congress and their staff from the affordable care act…the tea party did not spy on you and it didn’t collect your phone records…the tea party didn’t lie to you as to whether you would be able to keep your doctor…the tea party didn’t embarrass the nation with a phony red line…the tea party didn’t applaud the Arab spring and send dollars and aid to the Muslim Brotherhood…the tea party isn’t trying to wipe out the second amendment…the tea party didn’t try to prosecute reporters for doing their job…the tea party didn’t leave Iraq too early so they could win an election…the tea party didn’t hide under their desk when our ambassador and three other brave Americans were under attack in Benghazi.

Well you are right that the tea party didn’t exist till after the first president of color. One could also argue though, that it didn’t exist till we had one of the most liberal presidents we have ever seen. So it’s kinda like the chicken and egg. Which came first. We may never know.